Creative Metallix Plus Bluetooth Speaker Review

The Creative Metallix Plus costs under £23. I am going to let that settle in for a moment. A squeeze over twenty quid. And you really are getting so much for that very small outlay.

We are super impressed with these Bluetooth speakers. I have long been a Creative speaker fan – we have a pair hooked up to the kitchen television. Well over-powered for what’s needed, but they look so good.

So, the Creative Metallix Plus. We have a pair of them from Creative, and linking them together is the best way to go. But make no mistake – a single Metallix Plus on its own will fill the room. It may not be a party machine with the power to shake the building. But if you like decent sounds from your Bluetooth device, I can barely think of anything better, especially at this price point. Did I mention it’s a smidge over a twenty?

It follows in the footsteps of the incredible Woof, but this is a more conventional shape. Just picking it up makes you instantly know you should be in for some quality sounds.

Switch it on using one of the five rubberised buttons on top, wait for the pairing tone and spoken prompt, hook up your device and you are done.Chatting to the chap at Creative, he used the expression ‘punches above its weight’. Yeah, right. I knew it would be good but am genuinely stunned at just how good the Creative Metallix Plus actually is.

So, time for some specs. In spite of its size at 170x47x54mm it weighs 385 grams, which is fairly substantial. Inside there is a pair of 2200 mAh lithium-ion batteries good for 24 hours of use.

That also helps punch the signal over 10 metres of open space, less if there’s stuff in the way, like a wall. Connections, neatly hidden or subtle, are the usual USB, Bluetooth, AUX in and stereo jack. A micro USB cable at just over half a metre is in the box. And it comes in any colour you like, so long as it’s black.

OK, so praise all done. Let’s talk about the one and only thing I am not keen on and that’s pairing them with each other. I mentioned we have two, and once they are daisy-chained, they sound glorious. But the sequence of button pushes seems to me at least to be unnecessarily complex.

Here we go. Switch on the 1st Metallix Plus (left channel) and hold the Play button for six seconds. The flashing purple LED will light up. Switch on the 2nd Metallix Plus (right channel) and hold the Bluetooth button for three seconds. The flashing blue LED will light up.

I know that doesn’t sound difficult to follow, but if you are going to twin and un-twin occasionally, you may need to keep the instructions to hand.It’s worth the effort, mind. The sound is stonking and is plenty loud enough and some great bass. A brilliant touch is that you can then switch both on and off and pair with a device using just one Metallix Plus control panel. When you switch the master on, the slave follows suit. Nice.

You can’t twin it with another speaker – it needs to be a pair of the Metallix Plus to work. It’s also water resistant to IPX5 standards. OK, one more thing that could be a problem, especially these days is the claimed five to six hours charge time. Be nice if this could be brought down substantially.

There we are then. My current favourite small Bluetooth speaker, by some way. The Creative Metallix Plus needs a place in your home or office. You would be crazy not to have at least one.Did I mention the price?